Abstract
Jump height tests are employed to measure the lower-limb muscle power of athletic and non-athletic populations. The most popular instruments for this purpose are jump mats and, more recently, smartphone apps, which compute jump height through manual annotation of video recordings to extract flight time. This study developed a non-invasive instrument that automatically extracts take-off and landing events from audio recordings of jump executions. An audio signal processing algorithm, specifically developed for this purpose, accurately detects and discriminates the landing and take-off events in real time and computes jump height accordingly. Its temporal resolution theoretically outperforms that of flight-time-based mats (typically 1000 Hz) and high-speed video rates from smartphones (typically 240 fps). A validation study was carried out by comparing 215 jump heights from 43 active athletes, measured simultaneously with the audio-based system and with of a validated, commercial jump mat. The audio-based system produced nearly identical jump heights than the criterion with low and proportional systematic bias and random errors. The developed audio-based system is a trustworthy instrument for accurately measuring jump height that can be readily automated as an app to facilitate its use both in laboratories and in the field.
Highlights
Jump height is a commonly used measure of lower-limb muscle power [1] and coordination of lower and upper extremities [2]
To overcome the technical and observation problems associated with the manual digitization of video recordings, this study developed a non-invasive instrument that automatically extracts take-off and landing instants from an audio recording of jump execution
In order to examine the agreement between the proposed system and a typical instrument used by sports professionals, a total of 215 jumps were collected from 43 participants performing
Summary
Jump height is a commonly used measure of lower-limb muscle power [1] and coordination of lower and upper extremities [2]. The number and typology of instruments to assess lower body power through vertical jump tests is considerable and can be categorized into three methods. The time span between take-off and landing can be transformed into jump height by means of basic linear kinematics with timekeeping instruments that measure flight times of athletes [7]. According to this equation, since jump height is proportional to the square of flight time, the precision of jump height is related to an accurate timekeeping measurement.
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